Amnesty International says that Russia must show political will and end impunity for the murder of human rights activists and journalists in the North Caucasus.

John Dalhuisen, the director of Amnesty's Europe and Central Asia program, said the failure of authorities to bring to justice the killers of Natalya Estemirova and other rights activists "can only be explained by a complete lack of political will" to end impunity for such crimes.

Dalhuisen was speaking on the eve of the third anniversary of Estemirova's abduction in Grozny and her subsequent murder.

He said the apparent lack of progress in investigating Estemirova's murder leads Amnesty to conclude that pledges by Russian authorities to find the killers were "hollow promises which they never meant to fulfill."